1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tape carrier package and a liquid crystal display panel, more particularly to a tape carrier package capable of preventing bending of conductive leads and to a liquid crystal display panel including the tape carrier package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a liquid crystal display panel 9 of a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) includes a source driver printed circuit board 91, a gate driver printed circuit board 92, a panel body 93 for display purposes, and a plurality of tape carrier packages (TCP) 94, 95 and 96. The source driver printed circuit board 91 and the gate driver printed circuit board 92 are respectively located at a longitudinal side 931 and a transverse side 932 of the panel body 93, and are spaced apart from the panel body 93. Tape carrier packages 94, 95 and 96 are used to electrically connect the panel body 93 to the source driver printed circuit board 91 and the gate driver printed circuit board 92.
FIG. 2 is a rear view illustrating the structure of a conventional tape carrier package 94. The TCP 94 typically includes a substrate 941 made from a flexible film, leads 942 provided on the substrate 941, and a chip 943 mounted on the substrate 941 through a sealant 944 and electrically coupled to the leads 942. The leads 942 are covered with an anti-soldering layer 945 as an insulating layer, except for end portions of the leads 942 near the periphery of the substrate 941 (i.e., contact portions 946 and 947 of the leads 942). The contact portions 946 and 947 of the leads 942 are used to electrically connect an indium tin oxide electrode unit 933 of the panel body 93 to the driver printed circuit boards 91 and 92.
After electrical connection of the panel body 93 and the source driver printed circuit board 91 and the gate driver printed circuit board 92 so as to form a LCD panel 9, the LCD panel 9 is assembled with a back light assembly (not shown), a frame (not shown), and other elements so as to form the liquid crystal display. During assembly, TCPs 95 and 96 located at two ends of the longitudinal side 931 of the panel body 93 tend to be damaged, such that end edges of the contact portions 946 and 947 of the leads 942 of the TCPs 95 and 96 are undesirably bent, thereby resulting in open lines at the two ends of the longitudinal side 931 of the panel body 93.
Some solutions with respect to this bending problem have been proposed heretofore. According to the prior art, as shown in FIG. 2, the contact portions 946 and 947 of the leads 942 are protected by corner portions 948 of the substrate 941 to prevent direct impact from the side of the substrate 941. However, since the contact portions 946 and 947 are directly connected to the corner portions 948 of the substrate 941, they can still be affected indirectly by an external impact acting on the corner portions 948 of the substrate 941.